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Monday, December 22, 2008

Pistons @ Hawks - 12/21/08

Preamble Ramble

I hate to disappoint the people and my fellow bloggers, but with the Dolphins looking to win the AFC East, my fantasy football team poised to win a title (and another laying an egg in the 3rd place game), and family in town - a 2pm game on Sunday after church. Not happening...(and as an alert to folks who want to get a MLK Day game update - uh...that's when I'll be having my pre-Obama drinks and revelry in DC. Now, that said - I did watch the game at the sports bar with a Piston fan...glory!!!

I'll save my major thoughts below, but one note about the Pistons - they really look like a shell of their former selves. As I've been saying to people who wanted AI or Rasheed to join our team, please...it actually just bolsters the argument that I always made - we need a Billups or Prince (or even a Stuckey), not a Sheed or AI.

Str8 Butter Award - Mike Bibby show yo self. 5 treys in the 2nd, that's what's hot in the streets, huh...anytime we get copious 'heat check' calls from Nique, then it's a good day.

Starter Kudos/Smackdown -

* Williams - Not the best shooting day, but again - I still see a little more aggression in Marv's game and I couldn't be more excited. Now, if we can get the finishing thing to rachet up in the same way - he went from jump shooter to 3pt stroker, I'll be advocating a Marvin Williams extension this time next year.* Smith - Now, JSmoove was missing a lot of shots yesterday (per usual), but what I did notice was Josh on the block and backing his player into the paint - and either forcing a foul or making a bucket. Could this wrinkle sustain itself? What a wonderful thing if it could...* Horford - Same deal - 9 shots, double double...some impact in 40 minutes, but not super production like we want from a guy who looks like he could easily be 18 and 10 on a nightly basis.* Johnson - The Joe who is a great teammate and causes matchup problem is also the same guy who reverts to dribbling around to try to make a play down the stretch - my question is .. is this by design?* Bibby - A great day of shooting...next time, tell Mike to run you off screens and just keep feeding you until you stop hitting 3s. I was waiting for a 40 pt night...milk it when you can, baby.

Bench Kudos/Smackdown

* Murray - As predicted, back to backup point guard..enter expletives here.* Pachulia - So, was it the matchups or what b/c if I was doing all the dirty work on the 2nd team - it would seem as though I deserved more than 6 minutes if I only had 1 foul. That's just me, though.* Evans - More poor shooting, but still minutes...hmmm!* Law - DNP. Yep, WE PREDICTED IT! a DNP - it's really just becoming laughable at this point. Good thing we're winning or else I'd be calling for all out mutiny.* Jones - DNP. See Law* West - DNP* Morris - DNP* Gardner - Inactive* Hunter - Inactive

Coaching Kudos/Smackdown

Ok, we won the game and I'm trying my damnedest to leave our coaching philosophy alone, so I will just ask questions. When up by 18 pts, could we find NO minutes for Acie or Solomon Jones? When we were winning with ball movement, could we not recognize that they were coming back at the same time that we reverted to the Joe 'run around..I really need to find an acronym for this..and create some shot' Johnson 4th quarter offense? Does Zaza deserve at least 15 minutes a game? Why do Evans and Murray deserve more minutes when they are not playing well, but Law and Jones do not? If we are up by a lot, shouldn't we rest our starters for the season wear and tear AND so they have energy in the 3rd and 4th quarters? Anyway, just questions...